Written by

Mike Snyder

USA Today

Blake Shelton biography35-year-old Blake Shelton was born in Ada, Oklahoma to a beauty shop owner mother and used car salesman father. He picked up the guitar at 12 and was winning awards for his performances by age 16. His first single, “Austin” sat atop the Billboard charts for five weeks in 2001. He’s released another six albums since then, with 2011’s “Red River Blue” being nominated for Best Country Album at the Grammys. Shelton is married to country singer Miranda Lambert, with whom he sung the National Anthem to open the 2012 Super Bowl. In 2011, he joined the cast of “The Voice,” which now tops “American Idol” in the ratings.

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Blake Shelton doesn't reserve the teasing of his fellow coaches on NBC's The Voice to the music competition's TV broadcasts. He had some fun at their expense during a show in late February at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va., just west of Washington.

"I almost didn't do The Voice," he said, before describing a secretive meeting in Hollywood where he and the rest of the prospective cast first discovered who had been asked to do the show. "I'm the only country artist, so I'm the only coach on time because I'm worried I'll be fired before we even get started. After about 15 minutes, this little guy (Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine) in a white T-shirt and all these tattoos comes in." Shelton said he and his manager agreed that Levine looked "sexy."

Some "Secret Service guys" arrive after another 15 or 20 minutes, he says, to check out the place before Christina Aguilera arrives. "Then, Christina's boobs come through the door," Shelton says, "and about two minutes later the rest of her body comes through."

Another 20 minutes go by and "in comes this guy in a bright yellow Adidas suit (Cee Lo Green)… and my manager asks do I know any of his music, " says Shelton, who then plays “Forget You,” the G-rated version of Green's 2010 hit.

The reigning Country Music Association male vocalist of the year also took some time to bash critics who have questioned his on- and off-stage activities such as having an alcoholic drink on stage, hunting and liberal use of Twitter.

"When did being a country singer mean you had to walk a straight line and be politically correct?"

Shelton, who has more than 1.1 million followers, peppers his Twitter feed with humor and pre-game rally comments for his concerts and The Voice broadcasts. Before his Friday concert at Reading, Pa., he tweeted: 'Im so excited about tonight's show I just high fived my own reflection in the mirror!!!!!"

But occasionally, his tweets may stray into subjects that music industry execs might prefer be left unstrayed-into publicly. "I like to get on there and talk about hunting and drinking and boobs and things guys like," Shelton said onstage, after showing his Twitter page on the big screen behind him.

To finish the story, he let his sentiments lead into one of his hits, saying, "If you don't like my tweets, you can 'Kiss my country a--'."